Bush Bolsters His Advocacy of Miers

With conservative criticism mounting over the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush defended his pick during his weekly radio address Saturday, saying he was delivering on what he promised -- “a good conservative judge.”

“I chose Harriet Miers for the court both because of her accomplishments and because I know her character and her judicial philosophy,” he said.

“Throughout her life, Ms. Miers has excelled at everything she has done. She’s been a leader and a trailblazer for women lawyers, and her work has earned the respect of attorneys across the nation,” Bush said, offering a detailed biography of the woman conservatives say lacks the ideological track record needed to shift the direction of the high court.

The 60-year-old Miers, his White House legal counsel, Bush recounted, grew up in Dallas, attended public schools and worked to help pay her way through college when her father became ill.

The speech revealed no new insights about the nominee, who has long been a member of Bush’s inner circle. But the full-bodied defense suggested the president was not inclined to withdraw her name, as was called for by Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol and conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. Krauthammer termed her nomination “scandalous.”

Miers spent the week visiting key senators in an attempt to assuage misgivings, with mixed results. Even after a face-to-face, the usually loyal Sam Brownback of Kansas remained ambivalent about endorsing her.

Indeed, some of her most sympathetic defenders were turning out to be Democrats.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland called the GOP critics “sexist” and accused them of holding “a double standard.”

“All of a sudden they’re saying that a woman who was able to become head of the Texas Bar Assn. isn’t qualified. They’re saying a woman who was one of the first to head up a major law firm with over 400 lawyers doesn’t have intellectual heft,” Mikulski said, adding that she would withhold judgment of Miers until after the confirmation hearings.

It is uncertainty about Miers’ position on Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 high court decision that established a right to abortion, that concerns evangelical conservatives most. Miers is a member of an evangelical church, but no record of her position on whether that decision should stand has been produced.

Bush said last week that he had not asked her opinion on the issue, but he has attempted to signal to party conservatives that she shares the views they hold.

Bush recounted Miers’ career handling hundreds of legal cases “from massive commercial litigation to criminal cases to civil disputes.”

“Beginning in the 1990s, Harriet Miers was regularly rated one of the top 100 lawyers in America and one of the top 50 women lawyers in the country,” he said.

But her lack of service as a judge has led some GOP critics to question her fitness for the highest court in the land.

To that, Bush countered: “Indeed, since 1933, 10 of the 34 justices came to the Supreme Court directly from positions in the executive branch, such as the one Ms. Miers now holds. And no Supreme Court nominee in the last 35 years has exceeded Harriet Miers’ overall range of experience in courtroom litigation; service in federal, state and local government; leadership in local, state and national bar associations; and pro bono and charitable activities.”

A CBS News poll showed most Americans had yet to decide about Miers. Only 22% of those surveyed had formed an opinion of her, and those were evenly split between supporters and opponents.